290 A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO. 
when you ask his name, they always employ a term that 
is identical with heaven or sky. 
They have a vague idea of life after death, and the 
slaves that are slain at a dead chief’s grave are intended 
to serve him as an escort on his mysterious journey. 
When a child is born no particular ceremonies take 
place. The mother some three months before its birth 
has lived apart from her husband, and when the time of 
delivery approaches she is attended by the old women of 
her acquaintance. 
Circumcision is performed twelve days after birth by 
the “medicine-man,” or in his.absence by the chief. Hot — 
water is applied continuously to the part till the wound 
is cicatrized. Occasionaly circumcision is avoided in 
early youth, either through the caprice of the mother, or — 
because there is no doctor to perform the ceremony. But 
sooner or later the individual is obliged to submit himself 
to the operation, and in this case, if he be more or less 
adult, he is placed close to an immense fire after the 
excision has been made, and remains crouched before the 
heat for two or three days until his wound is healed. 
Circumcision is performed with a sharp knife. 
The child is not often weaned until it is two or three 
years old and all its teeth have come through the gums. 
All the time it is being suckled the mother remains apart 
from her husband. 
When the child is quite young it is taken down to the ~ 
river and taught to swim by it parents. If itis a girl it 
is early instructed in the management of household affairs, 
and learns to cook and otherwise assist its mother, while — 
the little boys make small bows and arrows, paddle 
miniature canoes, and ambitiously imitate all the pursuits 
of manhood. 
Marriage isa mere question of purchase, and is attended 
by no rejoicings or special ceremony. A man procures 
as many wives as possible, partly because they labour for 
him, and also because soon after one wife becomes with 
child she leaves him for two or three years until her baby — | 
is weaned, 
